Attachment guiding device for sewing machines



Jan. 30, 1962 R. E. JOHNSON 3,013,743

ATTACHMENT GUIDING DEVICE FOR SEWING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledMarch 11, 1960 INVENTOR. Ralph E. Johnson WITNESS fi/wm- 9W2;

Jan. 1962 R. E. JOHNSON 3,018,743

ATTACHMENT GUIDING DEVICE FOR SEWING MACHINES Filed March 11, 1960 2Sheets-Sheet 2 WNW"!- Fig.7

58 nmwn IN VEN TOR.

Ralph E. Johnson BY v Fig. WITNESS AT RNEY a t fiiace 3,018,743 PatentedJan. 30, 1962 3,018,743 ATTACHIVIENT GUIDING DESVICE FOR SEWING MACHINERalph E. Johnson, Mountainside, N.J., assignor to The SingerManufacturing Company, Elizabeth, N .J., a corporation of New JerseyFiled Mar. 11, 1960, Ser. No. 14,248 Claims. (Cl.,112--102) Thisinvention relates to sewing machines and more particularly to anattachment gliding device employed while doing embroidery or darningwork on a sewing machine having an elevated throat plate, and one of theprimary objects of the present invention is to provide an improveddevice of this character.

Another object of the invention is to provide an attachment guidingdevice which can easily be installed when embroidery or darningwork isto be done and which can easily be removed upon completion of the saidWork.

Another object of the invention is to provide an attachment guidingdevice which will not only act to encircle the elevated throat plate butwhich will allow access to the rotary loop-taker and the bob-bin housedbeneath the work supporting surface of a sewing machine.

A still further object of the invention is to provide means which willmake it easy to slide an attachment comprising a pair of darning orembroidery hoops under the needle of a sewing machine.

With the above and other objects in view, as will hereinafter appear,the invention comprises the devices, combinations, and arrangements ofparts hereinafter set forth and illustrated in the accompanying drawingsof a pre ferred embodiment of the invention, from which the severalfeatures of the invention and the advantages attained thereby will bereadily understood by those skilled in the art.

In the drawings:

' FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a sewing machine, adarning hoop and an attachment guiding device embodying the presentinvention, the above parts being shown assembled to do embroidery and/or darning,

FIG. 2 is a top plan view showing the improved attachment guiding deviceresting on the work supporting surface of a sewing machine andsurrounding the elevated throat plate thereof,

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the improved device per se,

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view'of the same device,

FIG. 5 is an elevational sectional view taken on the line 55 of FIG. 2,

FIG. 6 is an elevational sectional view taken on line 6-6 of FIG. 2, H p

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 77 of FIG. 2, and

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 8-8 of FIG. 1.

The portion of the sewing machine illustrated in the drawings comprisesa bed 16 having a work supporting surface 17, a head 13, a needle bar 19equipped with a needle 21, and a feed dog 22 carried by a feed bar 23.As more fully shown in my United States Patent No. 2,920,593, the bed 16is provided with a throat plate 24 having a needle hole 26 and feed dogslots 27 and the throat plate 24 is positioned in an opening 28 providedwith a ledge or rabbet 29. As more fully taught in the above mentionedpatent, the throat plate 24 may be held in any one of three differentconditions, namely, Down, Up or Unlocked. The positions of the throatplate 24 are controlled by a pair of cylindrical plungers 3-2- 32vertically movable in cylindrical bores 3434 formed in the bed 16. Eachplunger 32, at a location adjacent the the

the

to its upper end is provided with a transverse slot 36 and from the slot36 downwardly each plunger 32 is formed with a cylindrical bore 37designed to accommodate a plunger pin 38. The plungers 32 and theplunger pins 38 are operated by a mechanism (not shown) adapted .toraise and lower, and to lock or unlock, the throat plate 24. However, asfar as the present invention is concerned, it is only necessary to knowthat the throat plate 24 is received in the slots 36-36 and that duringan ordinary sewing operation the throat plate 24 will be .lowered to theDown position, thereby exposing and allowing the feed dogs 22 to operatethrough the feed dog slots 27. When the throat plate 24 is in the Downposition, the upper surface of the throat plate and the plungers 32-32will be flush with the work supporting surface 17. On the other hand,when the sewing machine is to be used for embroidering or darning, thethroat plate 24 is raised to the Up position (FIGS. 5 and 6) in whichposition the upper surface of the throat plate 24 is raised sufiicientlyto prevent the feed dog 22 from engaging the work 42. The bed 16 is alsocut away to receive a conventional slide plate 43. The slide plate 43can be moved away from the throat plate 24 and in the moved positionexposes the conventional bobbin 44- carried by a rotary loop taker 46.

An attachment guiding device embodying the present invention anddesignated by the numeral 51 is best shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 andcomprises a fiat, preferably plastic, ring having an open centralportion especially designed to fit around the outer edges of thecombined throat plate 24 and the plungers 3232 to, in eifect, provide afilletlike member which blends the lower level of the worksupportingsurface 17 into the higher level of the upper surface of the raisedthroat plate 24. To this end, the device 51 has an inner semi-circularwall or edge 52, and an inner semi-oval wall or edge 53. The ends of thetwo edges 52 and 53 are joined by part-circular walls or edges 54-54.The height of the walls or edges 52, 53 and 54 are substantially equalto difference in elevation between the work-supporting surface 17 andthe upper surface of the throat plate 24. As best seen in FIG. 2, theinner edges 52 and 53 engage outer edges of the throat plate 24, whereasthe part-circular edges 5454 engage outer edges of the plungers 3232. Apair of depressed lugs (FIG. 6) 5656 project inwardly from the semi-ovaledge 53. These lugs 56-56 enter a seen at 59 in FIGS. 5 and 6. The outeredge 58 has a cutout 61, which, as best seen in FIG. 2, allows access tothe rotary loop taker 46 and the bobbin 44 carried thereby. The bottomsurface of the device 51 (FIG. 4) rests on the work supporting surface17 and is channelled as shown at 62 and 63 and thereby allows the slideplate 43 to extend under it until the inner irregular end 66 of theslide plate 43 presses against a registering curved shoulder 67 (FIG. 4)depending from the device 51.

In operation, the attachment guiding device 51 functions in thefollowing manner. When it becomes desirable to embroider or darn, thethroat plate 24 is raised to the Up position shown in FIG. 5 and theslide plate 43 is pulled outwardly from the solid line position shown inFIG. 2 to the dash-dash position shown in the same figure. Then thedevice 51 is placed in the position shown in dash-dash lines in FIG. 2.In this position the part of the device between the semi-oval edge 53and the outer edge 58 and the cutout 61 rests on the work supportingsurface 17 and on top of the slide plate 43. Also the lugs 56-56 will bepoised (FIG. 7) ready to enter the recess 57. The part of the attachmentguiding device located between the semi-circular edge 52 and the outeredge 58 will rest on top of the raised throat plate 24 and the raisedplungers 3232. Then the device 51 is pushed forward until the lugs 5656enter (FIG. 8) the recess 57. This causes that part of the devicebetween the semicircular edge 52 and the edge 58 to slip off the top ofthe throat plate 24 to assume a position on the work supporting surface17, this position being shown in solid lines in FIG. 2. Then the slideplate 43 is pushed from the dash-dash line position of FIG. 2 to thesolid line position of the same figure. This causes the end 66 of theslide plate 43 to engage the shoulder 67 and forces the lugs 5656 intothe recess 57. With the attachment guiding device 51 in positionsurrounding the throat plate 24, the sewing machine is well suited to doembroidery and/ or darning, in which operations the work 42 is usuallyheld by an attachment having a pair of conventional hoops 72. The device51 prevents the work 42 and the hoops 72 from catching on the edges ofthe raised throat plate 24 or on the raised plungers 32-32. Also thecurved top surface 59 of the device 51 makes it easy to slide the hoops72 into position under the needle 21. When the sewing machine is to beused for straight stitching, the slide plate 43 is withdrawn and theoperators finger is placed in the small finger notch 68 formed on theouter edge 58 of the device 51, and the portion of the device betweenthe edges 52 and 58 is lifted clear of the throat plate 51. This permitsthe lugs 56-56 to be withdrawn from the recess 57 and allows completeremoval of the attachment guiding device. Thereafter the throat plate 51is lowered to the Down position and the slide plate 43 pushed into itsclosed position.

Having thus set forth the nature of this invention, what I claim hereinis:

1. An attachment guiding device for use with a sewing machine having awork supporting surface and throatplate mounted with the upper surfaceof said throat plate above the level of said work-supporting surface,said attachment guiding device comprising an annular member having afiat bottom surface adapted to rest on said work-supporting surface, aninner wall having a height substantially equal to the difference inelevation between said work-supporting surface and the upper surface ofsaid throat plate, and a top surface meeting with the top edge of saidinner wall and curved downwardly to merge with the flat bottom surfaceat the outer edge of said annular member.

2. An attachment guiding device for use with a sewing machine having awork supporting surface and throatplate mounted with the upper surfaceof said throat plate above the level of said work-supporting surface,said attachment guiding device comprising an annular member having aflat bottom surface adapted to rest on said work-supporting surface, aninner wall having a height substantially equal to the difference inelevation between said work-supporting surface and the upper surface ofsaid throat plate, a top surface meeting with the top edge of said innerwall and curved downwardly to merge with the fiat bottom surface at theouter edge of said annular member, and a lug protruding inwardly fromsaid inner wall.

3. An attachment guiding device for use with a sewing machine having awork supporting surface and throatplate mounted with the upper surfaceof said throat plate above the level of said work-supporting surface,said attachment guiding device comprising an annular member having afiat bottom surface adapted to rest on said Worksupporting surface, aninner wall having a height substantially equal to the difference inelevation between said work-supporting surface and the upper surface ofsaid throat plate, a top surface meeting with the top edge of said innerwall and curved downwardly to merge with the fiat bottom surface at theouter edge of said annular member, and a pair of spaced lugs protrudinginwardly from said inner wall.

4. An attachment guiding device for use with a sewing machine having awork supporting surface and throatplate mounted with the upper surfaceof said throat plate above the level of said work-supporting surface,said attachment guiding device comprising an annular member having afiat bottom surface adapted to rest on said work-supporting surface, aninner wall having a height substantially equal to the difference inelevation between said work supporting surface and the upper surface ofsaid throat plate, a top surface meeting with the top edge of said innerwall and curved downwardly to merge with the flat bottom surface at theouter edge of said annular member, and a shoulder depending from thebottom surface of said device.

5. An attachment guiding device for use with a sewing machine having awork supporting surface and throatplate mounted with the upper surfaceof said throat plate above the level of said work-supporting surface,said attachment guiding device comprising an annular member having aflat bottom surface adapted to rest on said work supporting surface, aninner wall having a height substantially equal to the difference inelevation between said work-supporting surface and the upper surface ofsaid throat plate, a top surface meeting with the top edge of said innerwall and curved downwardly to merge with the flat bottom surface at theouter edge of said annular member, and said inner wall comprising asemi-circular wall, a semi-oval wall and a two-part circular walljoining the ends of said semi-circular wall to the ends of said semiovalwall.

Enos Apr. 22, 1952 Johnson Jan. 12, 1960

